We came from China, and to help my daughter understand traditional Chinese culture, my husband brought her to a ShenYun show in Charlotte last year (they put fliers in our mailbox, it looks like a good show with traditional Chinese dances). 20 minutes into the show, he realized this is Fa Lun Gong sponsored, as there are several modern performances (songs, etc.) obviously propganda stuff strangely inserted in between of the traditional dances that talk about oppression by Communisty party etc. We later found out that it is indeed so. However, there is no mentioning of Fa Lun Gong at the beginning of the show or in the flier we received.
Our daughter was confused and we were very disappointed. We are not Fa Lun Gong haters. But what made us mad was that we were not given any hints about the real mission of the group or the show (even today, if you go to their web site, they ask for donations in the name of Chinese Heritage, but in Chinese characters only, it says the money is used for Fa Lun Gong). I have written them an email last year complaining, obviously with no use. Most of my other Chinese friends who know their real background just ignore what they are doing. But I feel this is America, I need to let other people who will spend $120 for a ticket know what is really going on. It is ok if they tell people up front what they are about, but they are doing it in a secrety way, at the costs of real Chinese culture.
In addition, as someone who is familiar with real Chinese arts, I could see clear differences in quality and authenticity just by looking at their vedio. The constumes are not well designed, the performance is second class based on what I see and what my husband saw last year. Not sure where they got the funding for all the advertisement, and how did they get all those revv reviews—not sure who are those people who are giving such reviews as I don't think they measure up to it at all, especially the "world class", "premier" and "authentic" parts. I really want to caution those who will go to their shows this year as their ticket is not cheap, and their show is not "world class" or "authentic" Chinese arts, and the real mission is not disclosed openly.
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